Periodically checking a vehicle's tire pressures and tread depths is recommended to ensure its safe and efficient operation. As such, tire pressure gauges are popular tools for a driver to have at his or her disposal, as are tread depth gauges. It is also well understood that tire pressure is dependent on temperature. For example, when a vehicle with its tires initially at ambient temperatures (e.g. a vehicle that has been stationary for a period of time) is driven, the temperature of its tires generally increases, as the air within the tires is heated by, for example, friction generated between the tires and the road surface. This heating causes a corresponding increase in the tires' internal pressure. Likewise, changes in ambient temperatures affect a tire's internal pressure. As a result of this behavior, vehicle manufacturers generally supply recommended tire pressures which are associated with a particular temperature. More specifically, recommended tire pressures are typically given as “cold pressures”, corresponding to the internal pressure of the tire measured when its temperature is around 20° C./68° F. to 22° C./72° F. (i.e. room temperature, hereinafter referred to as “nominal” temperature), as distinct from a “hot pressure”, or a pressure measured when the tire's temperature is above this range. An exemplary “rule of thumb” used by many dictates that a change of temperature of +/−10° F. accompanies a rise or fall of pressure of about 1 psi. It follows that in order to accurately set tire pressures, knowledge of tire temperature at the time of measuring and/or filling/deflating may be required.
Alternative systems and methods for providing fast, convenient and accurate tire monitoring are desired.